Ryan Bethell started RDI Power by taking a service truck to fleets between Brooksville and Tampa, and the fleet program still works that way for operators farther out. In Wildwood, RDI Fleet means three things: a maintenance calendar for every unit you run, technicians who come to your yard on that calendar, and records that show what each truck needs next. Nobody from RDI is stationed in Wildwood. The technicians drive out from Brooksville, and visits are booked around the hours your trucks can be spared.
Freight, rail and manufacturing along Wildwood’s SR 44
Wildwood had about 15,700 residents in 2020, a small number next to the freight that moves through it:
- Rail meets road. CSX uses Wildwood Yard, a former Seaboard division point that now works as a maintenance yard, and Sumter County’s economic development office says CSX offers rail-to-truck transload service where its main freight line meets I-75 and the Turnpike.
- Freight carriers. The county’s 2023 strategic plan lists a caution signal at SR 44 and CR 231 benefiting Old Dominion Freight Lines, and work on CR 229 plus a planned SR 44 signal benefiting Werner/Kottke Trucking.
- Manufacturing. Charlotte Pipe and Foundry cut the ribbon on a 54,700 square foot expansion of its Wildwood PVC pipe plant in June 2026. Countywide, Sumter reported about 426 manufacturing firms that October.
- Public transit. Sumter County Transit runs shuttle routes and door-to-door service from its office at 7375 Powell Road.
Your operation may look like one of these or like none of them. The planning works the same way for 3 service trucks as for a yard of tractors and trailers.
Matching intervals to how Wildwood trucks actually run
A Wildwood fleet can hold vehicles with opposite duty cycles. A tractor on I-75 piles up highway miles at a steady load, which supports longer oil intervals. If part of your fleet shuttles freight between a rail transload and a nearby warehouse, those trucks cover few miles but log long engine hours, with frequent starts and stretches of idle that are hard on aftertreatment. A paratransit van stops and starts all day and wears brakes faster than its odometer suggests.
RDI Fleet sets each unit’s intervals by miles, engine hours or calendar time, whichever describes its work, starting from the manufacturer’s schedule and adjusting for what inspections show. Units that idle a lot get a closer look at DPF soot loading and regeneration history. Highway units get tires, brakes, wheel ends and cooling checked every visit. Every class keeps its own schedule inside one plan, so the shuttle trucks are not forced onto the tractors’ calendar or the other way around.
Yard days on the Wildwood calendar
Most RDI Fleet work for a Wildwood operation happens where the trucks park: PM service, inspections, fault code scans and the smaller repairs those turn up. We book visits for the hours your units sit, so trucks get serviced between runs instead of being pulled off them. A unit with an open finding gets flagged on the report, so you can schedule the repair rather than meet it on the shoulder.
Annual inspections go on the same calendar. Federal rules require a yearly inspection for commercial vehicles of 10,001 lb GVWR or more in interstate service, with the report kept for 14 months, and each driver remains responsible for a pre-trip check. Under RDI Fleet, a unit’s annual lands on the same visit as its PM, so it comes out of service once for both. For the inspection items themselves, see DOT inspections.
When a Wildwood unit needs more than a yard visit
Engine overhauls, transmission rebuilds and anything that needs a lift come to our Brooksville shop. Fleet accounts get priority there, and we coordinate timing with you so the truck is down as briefly as the job allows. RDI is Caterpillar certified, our technicians are ASE certified, and we are a Bosch dealer, so heavier work stays with the same people who know the unit’s history.
Between scheduled visits, a breakdown on I-75 or SR 44 is handled as described on mobile diesel repair in Wildwood.
Reports, warranty and night coverage for Wildwood units
Every visit leaves a digital inspection for each unit, with photos, technician notes and the items to plan next. Kept over a year, those reports become the service history you need when deciding whether to rebuild a tractor or retire it. Repairs on a fleet account carry the RDI Fleet warranty of 2 years or 24,000 miles.
Trucks on I-75 and the Turnpike run at all hours, and the shop closes at 4:00 PM. That is why fleet accounts get 24/7 roadside assistance: a driver stopped near Exit 329 at 2 AM calls the same number as everyone else and reaches people who already have the truck’s records.
Plans cover light, medium and heavy duty trucks, trailers and buses. The RDI Fleet program page explains onboarding, and operators who also run trucks around the county seat can read about fleet maintenance in Bushnell. When you are ready, call (352) 433-3800 with a list of your Wildwood units and how they work.